User:Tialefebvre/sandbox

Lipid Metabolism Disorders are illnesses where trouble occurs in breaking down or synthesizing fats (or fat-like substances). A good deal of the time these disorders are hereditary, meaning it's a condition that is passed along from parent to child through their genes. Gaucher's Disease (Type I, Type II, and Type III), Neimann-Pick Disease, Tay-sachs Disease, and Fabry's Disease are all diseases where those afflicted can have a disorder of their body's lipid metabolism. Rarer diseases concerning a disorder of the lipid metabolism are Sitosterolemia, Wolman's Disease, Refsum's Disease, and Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis.

[Please see Fatty Acid Metabolism if this page isn't sufficient for your needs]. Lipid metabolism is the break down or storage of fats for energy; these fats are obtained from consuming food and absorbing them or they are synthesized by an animal's liver.Lipid metabolism does exist in plants, though the processes differ in some ways when compared to animals[example: Plants don't have livers, just like they don't have a heart or a pancreas]. Lipogenesis is the process of synthesizing these fats. Lipid metabolism often begins with hydrolysis, which occurs when a chemical breaks down as a reaction to coming in contact with water.Since lipids (fats) are "hydrophobic" [a wordplay on Hydrophobia, which is a fear of water ], hydrolysis in lipid metabolism occurs in the cytoplasm which ends up creating glycerol and fatty acids. Due to the hydrophobic nature of lipids they require special transport proteins known as lipoproteins, which are hydrophilic [the opposite of hydrophobic, molecules that are hydrophilic are often referred to be "water loving" molecules]. Lipoproteins are categorized by their density levels. The varying densities between the types of lipoproteins are characteristic to what type of fats they transport. A number of these lipoproteins are synthesized in the liver, but not all of them originate from this organ.

The Wikipage 'Lipid Metabolism' is in much need of work and any kind of it at this point. It only list the lipids that cells synthesize and degrade. That's all. It's connected to the cell biology wikipage but doesn't mention what it has to do with cell biology...heck, it doesn't really tell you anything but direct you to other wikipages. Its actually really atrocious. Rather than have this wikiPage serving solely as a sign post, i believe it could be a real tourist attraction so to say. Putting a scientific view on the subject of lipid metabolism of cells, and even lessening the need to have seven or more other pages for information that could really be included in one big page, i think 'Lipid Metabolism' is a great page to add on to....really there's nothing to do but add on to it. Not really anything you can take away from it at this point. Check it out, Professor Parker but you've been warned, it will drive you crazy just looking at it and knowing its a direct linked tag to the wikipage 'cell biology'.

The Wikipage done on apoptosis is extremely well done. Rather than search for a article to nitpick at, i first decided to find an article to use as a model and learn from for when i add in my own bits to more incomplete wikipages. The in-depth details and accompanying images about apoptosis really open the start of this page. As does the back history and timeline on it's discovery and even the English translation of the Greek word "Apoptosis". I really liked the part about how they show apoptosis in amphibians. Even a five year old knows that a tadpole turns into a frog but i'm guessing there are some fifty year old people out there who still don't know how it's done and that apoptosis is a part of it. This really makes the idea of apoptosis more accessible to people not in a cell biology field. If i have one complaint it's that they don't have a subheading labelled "Cell Murder" and then explaining the systems behind that and how it happens. The way you did it in class was both informative and entertaining. I feel that part of apoptosis would get more attention from the reader and better spike their interest in it.